Georgia's jobless rate drops to 8.2 percent

ATLANTA (AP) - State labor officials say Georgia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has dropped to 8.2 percent in April.

Woman using bare hands to build house with rocks

SILVER CREEK, Ga. (AP) - A woman is using her bare hands to build a house in the woods of north Georgia by stacking large rocks on top of each other, one rock at a time.

Police: Suspect arrested in La. parade shooting

Bibles reinstated in Ga. state park lodges, cabins

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has ordered the Department of Natural Resources to return Bibles that were removed from cabins and lodges at state parks.

Deal signs order addressing Common Core standards

Ga. avoids limit on reservoir use in Senate bill

Stocks keep climbing even as manufacturing softens

Ga. high school yearbook labels student a 'freak'

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. (AP) - School administrators are trying to find out how a photo caption next to a student's photo labeled him a "freak" in a high school yearbook.

Ga. agency orders removal of Bibles at state parks

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia parks officials say they've ordered that Bibles be removed from guest rooms at state lodges and cabins across the state.

TV-over-Internet service hits Atlanta next month

Markets climb, led by small-company stocks

Top IRS official didn't reveal tea party targeting

Tax commissioner's SUV costs taxpayers $39,000

ATLANTA (AP) - Records show that a Georgia tax commissioner used public funds to buy a full-sized SUV for his own use.

Car booting temporarily suspended in Athens

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Officials in Athens have temporarily suspended car booting in the downtown area as they examine due process issues related to the controversial practice.

Angelina Jolie says she had double mastectomy

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Angelina Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby says the system is undergoing sever

HOUSTON (AP) - Carnival Cruise Lines has canceled a dozen more planned voyages aboard the Triumph and acknowledged that the crippled ship had been plagued by other mechanical problems in the weeks before it was left powerless in the Gulf of Mexico by an engine-room fire. The company's announcement on Wednesday came as the Triumph was being towed to a port in Mobile, Ala., with more than 4,000 people on board, some of whom ...

Chancellor: Ga. universities must be responsive

ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia University System Chancellor Hank Huckaby says the system is undergoing several fundamental changes to its structure to better serve students.

A slump in McDonald's stock drags Dow lower

NEW YORK (AP) - The Dow was held back by a slump in McDonald's stock Wednesday, leaving it short of a record. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 35.79 points to close at 13,982.91. The Dow has gained 6.7 percent this year and is just 182 points below the record close of 14,164 it set in October 2007. McDonald's was the biggest decliner in the Dow, losing $1.10 to $94, as investors worried ...

First lady plugs 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

WASHINGTON (AP) - Michelle Obama on Wednesday gushed over the Oscar-nominated film "Beasts of the Southern Wild," calling it one of the "most powerful and most important" movies in a long time in a ringing endorsement delivered less than two weeks before this month's Academy Awards ceremony.

GOP faults Obama speech for liberalism, hostility

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans said Wednesday that President Barack Obama's State of the Union address was full of well-worn liberal ideas and campaign-style hostility, and did little to ease partisan tensions over major issues.

Gov. Nathan Deal signs Medicaid tax compromise

ATLANTA (AP) - Gov. Nathan Deal has signed into a law his plan to extend a key piece of Medicaid insurance funding without explicitly extending a tax on hospitals.

Pope says he's resigning for the 'good of church

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI told thousands of faithful Wednesday that he was resigning for "the good of the church" - an extraordinary scene of a pope explaining himself to his flock that unfolded in his first appearance since dropping the bombshell announcement.

Obama proposals face quick opposition in Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama set up high-stakes clashes with Republicans over guns, immigration, taxes and climate change in a State of the Union address that showcased his determination to mark his legacy. Rep. Paul Ryan said Obama could better achieve his goals if he would get out of "campaign mode."

LAPD-Revenge Killings

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) - As police scoured mountain peaks for days, using everything from bloodhounds to high-tech helicopters, the revenge-seeking ex-cop they wanted was hiding among them, holed up in a vacation cabin across the street from their command post.

Ga. officers accused of protecting drug deals

ATLANTA (AP) - Ten current and former metro Atlanta law enforcement officers targeted in an undercover federal sting were arrested Tuesday, accused of accepting thousands of dollars to provide protection during drug deals, said U.S. Attorney Sally Yates.

Senate panel approves Hagel for Pentagon chief

WASHINGTON (AP) - A bitterly divided Senate panel on Tuesday voted to approve President Barack Obama's nomination of Chuck Hagel to be the nation's defense secretary at a time of turmoil for the military with looming budget cuts, a fresh sign of North Korea's nuclear ambitions and drawdown of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The Armed Services Committee voted 14-11 to send the nomination to the full Senate, with all the panel's Democrats backing the ...

Authorities say ex-cop barricaded in Calif. cabin

A fugitive ex-Los Angeles cop sought in three killings was barricaded in a cabin in the in the San Bernardino Mountains on Tuesday after a shootout with authorities that wounded two officers. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department says two law enforcement officers are being airlifted to a local hospital with unknown injuries. Deputies in the Big Bear area looking for Christopher Dorner responded to a report of a stolen vehicle in the ...

Senate approves anti-violence against women act

WASHINGTON (AP) - By a robust bipartisan majority, the Senate voted Tuesday to renew the Violence Against Women Act with new assurances that gays and lesbians, immigrants and Native American women will have equal access to the act's anti-domestic violence programs.

Dow edges toward record; Avon, Michael Kors surge

NEW YORK (AP) - The Dow edged closer to a record Tuesday as stocks advanced following strong earnings from Avon and Michael Kors. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 50 points at 14,022 with less than an hour of trading left, putting it within 1 percent of the record close of 14,164 it set in October 2007. The Dow surged at the start of the year, logging its best January in almost two decades. ...

New plans for armed school employees in Ga.

ATLANTA (AP) - School employees in Georgia could not be punished for refusing to carry firearms under changed legislation being debated by state lawmakers.